Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Sirius led Hermione outside and into the garden. She was hit with another wave of strange deja vu and stumbled, but was pulled forward by Sirius, who seemed unfazed by it. His arm was firmly around her shoulders and kept her from falling. She glanced up at his smiling face but did a double take when she noticed that his smile did not reach his eyes. This concerned her slightly, he looked down at her, apparently sensing her gaze on him. He smiled warmly down at her, this time it was reflected in his eyes. Hermione felt very warm and fuzzy inside, she blushed and looked down. She felt that he cared about her very much, although she couldn't remember him ever caring for her that much.

Only Harry, she and Ron were always sort of just extensions of Harry. They walked past massive hedges that somehow still seemed neat and tidy, despite lack of upkeep for decades. Huge trees were interspersed with the hedges and other random plants she didn't recognize totally. She squinted at them, trying to recognize and catalog all the plants in her view. But to no avail, she just couldn't recognize some, and they were moving to fast for her to pick out the ones she did know. She let out a little huff when she tried to slow down but was pulled forward by Sirius anyway. He glanced down at her with a little mischievous smirk that she could not stand to look at. Her face felt hot, burning in fact and she found her heart beating erratically. He finally slowed as they walked through an archway made from hedges and vines. Hermione looked up and around, whipping her head around in every direction to look at everything before it was passed. They halted in the middle of a little clearing.

As she took in her surroundings, the first thing she noticed was how perfectly round the clearing was. Yet somehow it still had the feel of being completely natural, as if it was made that way by nature itself. There was a sense of a quiet happiness from a source Hermione couldn't quite place. The wind blew through the trees with a rustling that sounded like a happy sigh of relief. The strangest sense of peace washed over her as she stood there, it was as if she was home. Upon realizing that, she was filled with such giddiness she thought she would burst. Hermione inhaled deeply, these emotions were irrational, of course she had never been here in her life, she was a muggle-born after all!

But somehow there was a doubt creeping in on the edge of her consciousness, causing her a small glimmer of unease about herself. "So, what do you think? Do you like it?" Sirius asked her quietly, his tone soft but a little anxious, as if he care about her opinion quite a lot.

Having been startled out of her thoughts, Hermione inhaled as she looked around fully this time. There was an ornate bench in one end of the clearing, and there were strange plants all around the edges. But what really caught her attention, was the dancing lights in the air. They looked like little yellow orbs, dancing through the air. She gasped in delight and Sirius smiled, watching her walk up to the little orb and try to touch it. It weaved around her finger and landed on her nose.

Hermione let out a little "Ooot!" when it did. Sirius laughed quietly, so as not to scare the orb creature. Hermione smiled at it, lifting a finger to her nose and coaxing the orb on to it. She giggled as it wobbled a little on the end of her index finger. Turning slowly, Hermione approached Sirius with said orb. Sirius stepped back cautiously, but Hermione continued her slow approach. Hermione reached for Sirius's hand ignoring his reluctance.

"Hermione, those things don't like me." He resisted, Hermione grabbed his hand anyway and very gently placed the orb on it. Sirius looked nervous for a minute, then his face broke into a smile. He chuckled lightly and held the little creature higher, about eye level.

He looked at it admiringly, "you know, last time I came out here, one of these suckers bit me. I lost my memory of the last week. I don't know why, but I felt like they'd take to you better than me. Hermione stared at him in shock.

"Really? Why me?" She inquired, sounding perplexed. Sirius shrugged, "I guess I just remembered how good you were with magical creatures and how much you care about them. Just reminded me of the legends about the Harts..." He trailed off when he squinted at the little orb, and pulled it closer, as if suddenly seeing something that he hadn't before.

Sirius's brows furrowed, Hermione looked between him and the little orb creature for a minute. "Sirius?" She asked quietly, feeling that something strange was occurring between those two. He didn't respond immediately, acting as though he hadn't heard her. Hermione began to feel uneasy.

"Sirius? Sirius? Are you alright?" But still there was no response, Hermione reached forward to tug on Sirius's sleeve.

"Sirius!" She exclaimed as her fingers brushed the fabric of his sleeve, but his head suddenly snapped to look at her. Hermione jerked back in reflex, gasping in surprise. Sirius blinked a few times and shook his head. Hermione studied his face carefully, looking for any signs that something was wrong but found nothing. Sirius smiled at her, as per his usual, nothing amiss could be gleaned from his eyes or facial expression.

Hermione was unnerved, "are you feeling alright, Sirius?" She asked anxiously, placing her hand on his forehead to check his temperature. He just smiled even wider and allowed her to touch his forehead. When she could detect no fever, she dropped her hand.

"I'm fine Hermione." He said gently, his kind eyes making her doubt that there was ever anything wrong at all. But Hermione still clung to the memory of what just happened, knowing that something had been wrong. Even if whatever it was, happened to be gone now.

"Let's go back inside, shall we?" She requested in a tone that made sound more like an order and grabbed his arm, attempting to drag him back towards the door.

"Wait, love! I wanted to spend some more time outside! Let's go this way." He said to her excitedly, taking his arm from her grasp and putting it around her shoulders to gently guide her in a completely different direction.

Snape let out a long sigh, thinking of his not-too-distant future and the repercussions it would have on his life. He was struggling to get Draco to tell him anything about his plans, thus making his job infinitely harder. But he had made a vow. And one that he could not break.

But more than anything, he worried about the effect it would have on Miss Weasley when he had to finally kill Dumbledore. She was a magnet for trouble and would often seek out even more trouble when she did not have it right on hand. He knew that her daredevil streak was a result of her first year experience, and did not blame her. He distinctly remembered getting a lot bolder after a few of the traumatic experiences in his past.

She was the only person he felt the need to protect just because of her, or out of his own human decency. Unlike Potter or Draco, whom he protected out of duty to their mothers. He wasn't sure when it had happened, but somewhere in all the nonsense these past few years, he had come to the realization that he was not really doing it for Lily so much anymore. He certainly loved her, missed her and wished bitterly that he had been able to save her but it didn't haunt him night and day like it used to.

Once this whole damn war was over, Potter was safe, and the Dark Lord was gone for good, he would start over. This train of thought brought him to the potions he had invented but never published. He remembered that aging potion that he had tested on himself several years ago. He almost could not bare it if anyone ever found out that his "medical leave" he'd taken seven years ago was due to his experimental potion reducing him to a fourteen-year-old boy. He still suffered some side effects from that. It had taken him weeks just to figure out how to turn himself back to his original self. Or at least, as close to it as possible.

He'd only managed to re-age himself about ten years. Dumbledore had found it all highly amusing. After that he had perfected the potion, but had yet to test it on anyone. He considered testing it out on Black first, without his knowledge, but felt that would only make him a lot more unmanageable. It was almost worth it. Almost. He would consider this more after their upcoming escapade.

Ginny sat in her bed with her back against the headboard, wishing for a night of dreamless and peaceful sleep, but knew it would not come. So she sat upright, trying to keep herself from falling asleep, occasionally her eyes would droop, her head leaning to one side and then she'd catch herself. This was how she spent most nights when she felt anxious or had just had an episode of bad dreams.

She wished there was some way of fixing it, so she could just sleep without fearing that she'll wake up screaming in terror from her nightmares. She huffed in frustration, why couldn't she just be normal? Why did she have to be the one that got possessed by You-Know-Who? Why did Malfoy pick her? Why did she have to the one stupid enough to talk to journal that talked back?

She was pulled out of her bitter thoughts by the tears that spilled down her face. She touched a finger to her face and pulled it away, examining the wetness on her fingers. She felt pathetic, sitting there crying over her fate. She always did whenever she cried, it made her feel weak and vulnerable and she hated feeling that way. If you were weak than people could exploit you for it, only the strong were safe. So, she pretended to be strong and fine.

For her mother, father and all of her brothers. She was tired of the looks and concerned silences whenever she did something weak or acted vulnerable. Only Snape could see through her façade and didn't judge her for it. He didn't treat her like a delicate flower that was about to break any moment, even when she felt weak and stupid. He would just calmly help her when she needed it, but otherwise treat her like normal student. At least, until she hit thirteen and started finding clever ways to rebel within the limits of his patience and the technicalities of the school rules. She smiled, remembering the first time she really surprised him,

Thirteen-year-old Ginny saw Snape criticizing some other students for how they composed their potion. She smirked evilly, adding the wrong ingredient at the incorrect time per the recipe on the board. She immediately added a second ingredient before her potion had a chance to congeal, it began to look a lot better than anyone else's. She kept adding the ingredients wrong and stirring it backwards as well. She looked up to see Snape standing in front of her, looking sour and unimpressed. She smiled pleasantly at him and continued her work on her backwards potion making. He opened his mouth to say something, but Ginny slipped the last ingredient into the potion and stirred three times counterclockwise very quickly. The potion came to a perfect simmering boil and the color, smell and texture were perfect. Snape's eyebrows raised considerably as he realized her level of comprehension and mastery of potions was far above average. She could see the respect in his eyes and she grinned like a mad person. She felt victorious, she just bested Snape!

Author's note: Sorry for the short chapter and long delay, my life has been getting a little wild, but don't worry! I will continue to update.